Many people have trouble relaxing, even in their [city] homes.  Why?  Frequently, it’s because of too much visual stimuli such as unfinished projects, knickknacks and clutter.

You may think the answer to being able to relax is to move into a “better” home.  However, what usually happens is that you move your unfinished projects and clutter with you.  Instead, if you take the time to get organized, you may find – like many owners who have backed out of a sale – that you don’t need to move, you just need to re-organize.

Take a moment from your busy, stressful life to read these tips and discover how you can improve and de-stress your personal castle:

1. Add money to your wallet. Unwanted or unused items can be turned into cash. eBay and Craigslist are two heavily-used websites where you can sell your unwanted/unused items.  Make a little cash and clear the clutter.
2. Be generous. If you don’t want to sell your items, don’t throw them away.  Donate them to places such as Goodwill. Online, there’s FreeCycle, where you can share your items and give them away to those who really need them.
3. Keep it clean. Set up a system to decide what to do with mail. Many people end up with piles of mail throughout the house. Rather than letting it pile up, decide the day you get it where that mail goes: trash, take action or file away.
4. Include your family in the de-clutter process. After all, your spouse and kids live there, too. As well, if others have a chance to give their input, they may be more willing to keep your Rancho Cucamonga home organized. Let others in your family have a part in the decision-making process and implementation.
5. Take stray worry off your mind. You may be subconsciously worried about things in your home. Reduce the potential stress by creating a sense of safety. For instance, make sure your smoke detectors are working, that you have a radon meter (if necessary) and a carbon monoxide detector.

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If you have never purchased a home before, you may not yet recognize how crucial it is to acquire the services of a professional Fontana real estate agent.

Buying a home will probably be the most expensive purchase you ever make.  Therefore, you undoubtedly should consider enlisting the help of a REALTOR® who has experience, extensive knowledge of the area and integrity.

Benefits of using a professional Fontana real estate agent

Having your own buyer’s agent to walk you through the entire home buying process saves you a lot of time and stress, as well as money.

You decide:

• Size of home desired
• Style preferred
• Location
• Price range

That’s easy!  With this basic information, your agent begins the hard part: searching for the perfect home for you and successfully guiding you through the purchase process.

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Not just Fontana real estate, either. Since the end of 2007, as the real estate market started to decline, new rules, regulations, mandates and more have come down the pipeline.

State Specific Laws

Take Michigan, for instance. Ranking sixth in the nation on the number of foreclosures, Michigan legislature enacted the “Lifeline Law.”  This law gives an extra 90 days for homeowners to work with banks to come up with solutions other than foreclosure.  California did the same, with the California Foreclosure Prevention Act.  In New York, judicial hearings are mandatory for both borrowers and lenders before foreclosure can go through.

Nationwide Laws

Other laws have been enacted throughout the United States, such as Congress lowering homeowners’ tax deductions.

Before 2009, if you used your Fontana real estate as a primary residence for at least two years out of the last five, you could keep up to $500,000 (married couples – $250,000 if single) in real estate gains on your tax return. That exemption is now pro-rated to the time you spent in the house, which could be quite substantially less than what your tax exemption would have been last year.

As well, new appraisal rules went into effect May 1, and, although they aren’t government rules, they do affect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. With the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) put into place, every lender that goes through Freddie or Fannie has to follow the HVCC to the letter. The HVCC stops mortgage brokers from having home appraisals done themselves. Instead, the home appraisals must be done by a third party appraisal management company in the same area as the home.

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For decades, lenders used a Good Faith Estimate to explain closing costs to a home buyer. These estimates, called GFEs, contained recurring and non-recurring closing costs. Since the lender was not required to stand behind those numbers, they could be misleading and were inconsistent from lender to lender. In an effort to provide more disclosure to borrowers, effective January 1, 2010, the government standardized the Good Faith Estimates and added more pages. Now, every lender is required to disclose accurate numbers.

While the recurring and non-recurring closing costs are clearly defined in the new GFE, some of the other things a borrower would like to know are not. For example, nowhere on the GFE does it spell out the borrower’s monthly PITI mortgage payment. But that’s the government for you.

Definition of Closing Costs

Some home buyers are shocked when they discover it costs more than the price of a home to buy it. When you buy a car, for example, dealers don’t tack on fees and charge extra (except for sales tax) when buyers finance that vehicle. But buying a home is different.

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Are you the kind of person who gets frustrated quickly?

Do you give up easily?

I hope not, if you are a buyer, especially a first time buyer, in this market.

In our area there is a ton of competition, with multiple bids on most homes in the lower price ranges (e.g., under $300K), and in particular for short sales and REOs. What this can mean is that you may not get the house you want because you get outbid by someone else. There are more and more cash buyers out there, especially investors, and banks often prefer cash deals over financed ones.

However, with the low rates we currently have, and the opportunity to take advantage of the First Time Buyer Credit, buying a home now can be a terrific opportunity for many of you. But try not to let yourself get too frustrated, and BE PERSISTENT. A savvy local REALTOR can be your best defense.

There are several important criteria to consider when buying real estate for investment. Some of the items will vary depending on the reason you are buying and the type of investment you are looking to make.

Long term investments such as rental properties can take longer to pay off but the income is consistent.  Short term investments such as buying for quick flips may pay off larger but can be a less regular form of income.

When buying a home for either long or short term real estate investments, it is very important to know exactly what your costs will be compared to potential income. That should be your primary deciding factor when buying investment properties.

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